Sunday, October 7, 2012

Slashing tires on Shabbos - required to pay?

5tjtimes  by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

 This past Chol HaMoed Shabbos a near tragedy was averted by a quick-thinking Orthodox Jewish man, when he noticed that a driver was stopped at a stop sign on Empire Avenue right before the corner of Reads Lane.  The problem was that the driver had fallen fast asleep with his foot on the brakes.  The person noticed the imminent danger and acted quickly.

The car was running, but the Jewish man was unable to awaken the driver and all four doors of the sedan were locked.  

If the driver were to inadvertently move his foot in his sleep, he could possibly run over innocent victims.  Plus, the area was a heavily walked site next to two very popular synagogues with numerous kids around as well.

After calling the authorities to deal with the driver, the Orthodox Jewish man took a kitchen knife and punctured the tires so that the car would be unable to move forward.  Later, firemen smashed the glass windows and placed the car in park.

There are two questions.  The first question is whether it is permitted to have punctured the driver’s tires on Shabbos or not.    The second question is whether the person doing the puncturing should have made sure to puncture the tires in such a manner that the tires can still be repaired.  When a tire is slashed on the sidewall it cannot be repaired.  If it is cut on the treading of the tire itself then the tire may be plugged up at a tire repair shop.  Is the tire-slashing hero responsible to pay?


  1. slashing tires was not a good idea... he could have left the air out of the tires without slashing them. So the damage he did was not indispensable to insure security. So he should pay... and it is also a chillul shabbes, while letting the air out was not...

  2. If there was no danger to yehudi pedestrians, but only to the nochri driver, he couldn't be mechallel Shabbos.


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